Blackadder: Back & Forth

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Blackadder Episode
Blackadder: Back & Forth
English DVD Cover for Blackadder : Back & Forth.
Air date	Easter 2002 (BBC 1)
Writer(s)	Ben Elton Richard Curtis
Director	Paul Weiland
Guest star(s)	Rik Mayall Kate Moss Colin Firth
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Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) was a 34 minute short film commissioned especially for showing in the specially built "SkyScape" cinema, erected south east of the Millennium Dome on the Greenwich peninsula in east London. It was co-financed by Sky Television and the BBC, with sponsorship from—among others—Tesco PLC.

It was shown eight times a day throughout the celebratory year 2000, after which it was aired on television, first on Sky and then on BBC One on Easter Sunday in 2002.

It is the only Blackadder story to be shot entirely on film and with no laugh track, although one was added for the 2002 BBC screening. Because of the film's intended audience, it is rated PG rather than 15, a number of scenes were cut from the final edit. Some of these were later shown in a corresponding "making of" documentary called Baldrick's Video Diary which was produced to accompany the DVD release.

[edit] Plot

The film opens with the ever-continuing line of Blackadder seen throughout events in British history including the Battle of Hastings, in the presence of Queen Victoria, on the battlefield with Winston Churchill and at some sort of political gathering held by Margaret Thatcher. The scene then turns to the Blackadder Manor where the present day Blackadder resides.

Blackadder is entertaining guests on New Year's Eve, 1999. As a practical joke, he plans to convince them he has a working time machine (and win £30,000 into the bargain). Having been charged by his guests — Bishop Flavius Melchett, Archdeacon Kevin Darling, Admiral George Bufton-Tufton and Lady Elizabeth, all presumably descendants of previous Blackadder characters (played by Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Hugh Laurie and Miranda Richardson respectively) — to travel back through time to bring back a Roman centurion's helmet, the Duke of Wellington's Wellington boots, and a really smelly pair of 200 year old underpants, Blackadder intends to scam his guests by dredging the items from his personal store. However, in pulling a lever, he discovers the time machine, built by Baldrick to plans by Leonardo da Vinci, actually works.

The pair first land in the middle of a prehistoric world, where they are attacked by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Baldrick uses his underpants to beat back the T. Rex, who takes one sniff and collapses. It is implied that Baldrick's underpants were responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction. Blackadder realises that they must somehow reset the time machine's dials to their original configurations in order to return home. This proves difficult, as Baldrick never got around to writing the dates on any of the dials.

After reconfiguring the time machine, Blackadder and Baldrick land in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, with Nursie and Lord Melchett at her side. The Queen mistakes Blackadder for his ancestor, Lord Blackadder II, and says that unless Blackadder gives her a present, she will behead him. Blackadder offers her a tube of Polo mints, which the Queen proclaims to be "the tastiest things in history." She rewards him with her crown, then sends him away to bring back more mints. On his way out, Blackadder meets William Shakespeare (played by Colin Firth), who is working on a draft of Macbeth. After giving Shakespeare his ballpoint pen and convincing him to sign the title page of the play, Blackadder kicks and insults the Bard in the name of "every schoolboy and schoolgirl in England for the next four hundred years".

Following a brief diversion where the time machine strays rather too far into the future, Blackadder and Baldrick land in Sherwood Forest and meet Robin Hood (played by Rik Mayall) with his Merry Men. Before Robin can give the order for Blackadder to be killed, Blackadder convinces the Merry Men that their way of life--robbing from the rich and giving to the poor--is useless. The Merry Men turn on Robin Hood and kill him instead. Maid Marian (Kate Moss) is impressed and falls in love with Blackadder. Blackadder takes Robin Hood's hat as a trophy.

A further attempt to reconfigure the dials results in Blackadder and Baldrick landing at the Battle of Waterloo atop the Duke of Wellington, killing him before he can deliver his famous plan to defeat the advancing French army. Blackadder leaves quickly, stepping out of the time machine only long enough to steal Wellington's boots to win his bet.

One last attempt to set the dials at random lands the time machine at Hadrian's Wall in the time of Roman Britain. The time machine appears to be seeking out Blackadder's DNA throughout history, as the wall is being guarded by Blackadder's centurion ancestor, with a Roman Baldrick as his shield-carrier. After stealing his ancestor's helmet, the modern Blackadder and Baldrick escape just ahead of a charging wall of angry Scotsmen.

Back in the time machine, Baldrick mentions that dying men are rumoured to see their entire lives flash before their eyes and that, if one of them were about to die, they might remember how the dials were originally set. Blackadder tests this theory by holding Baldrick's head in the time machine's toilet until Baldrick almost drowns. True to form, as Baldrick's life flashes before his eyes, he remembers how to set the dials to return home.

The two return to the present day with their prizes. The party guests are impressed by the crown of Queen Elizabeth and Wellington's boots, but thanks to Blackadder's interference with history, William Shakespeare is now known only as the inventor of the ballpoint pen and Robin Hood is unheard of. Moreover, England has been ruled by France for the past two hundred years. Blackadder and Baldrick leap back into the time machine to repair history and save Britain--by encouraging Shakespeare, flattering Robin Hood, and preventing the death of the Duke of Wellington--then return home to collect their winnings from the now-amazed partygoers. After one of Blackadder's friends mentions what an unscrupulous person could do with a time machine, Blackadder has a cunning plan. He tells his friends to go upstairs to watch the New Year's festivities on television, assuring them he'll be right back. Blackadder and Baldrick hop back into the time machine.

The four friends sit down to watch the broadcast of the royals and the prime minister arriving at the Millennium Dome. On the television screen, Blackadder--now King Edmund III--steps from a limousine along with Baldrick, who is announced as the prime minister. As the television announcer gushes about the King's high approval ratings, it is revealed that Blackadder is now married to the beautiful Lady Marian of Sherwood (Maid Marian). Blackadder's tale comes to an end with the Blackadder family finally getting to sit on the throne of England.

The film closes with the promise that 'Blackadder will return in the year 3000 in Blackadder: Back & Forth 2.

[edit] External links

• Blackadder: Back and Forth at Blackadderhall.com
• Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) at the Internet Movie Database